Alien ?

by Kazu

Have you ever seen and eaten this creature ?
This is a mantis shrimp, squilla or Oratosquilla oratoria landed on the Port Atsuta where I visited .

Its arms give the fatal attack to the aqua creatures like the scythe of the Grim Reaper.

These reverse scythes can break the sheet glass of small aquarium with the single punch. These arms are folded compactly under its head shell.

I was wondering where is the cerebral part of this shrimp. Only one mantis shrimp can eat up all the fish in the aquarium.

Female mantis shrimps have crisp roe at the center of their belly. I ordered five males and five females but the kind wife of a fisherman added three or four more small ones.

This is the fight of mantis shrimps to survive and stand out from the crowd.
My wife and I prefer much bigger mantis shrimps fried with bread in Thailand or Hong Kong but it was the season of this shell fish.
Please visit Atsuta Area of Ishikari City on the west coast of Hokkaido;)